The president's message refers to the Peanuts Comic Strip in the 31 October 2001 SUN:

Linus (W7IIT) is in the pumkin patch (ham bands) all night. "Oh, Great Pumkin (E30NA) why hast thou cast me off? How long, oh Great Pumkin, wilt thou hide thyself from me? Mine enemies (QRN/QRM/solar flux) reproach me all the day! Bring thou me out of my distress!" The Great Pumkin finally took great sympathy upon my distress, and entered my call in his Great Book (15-meter CW).

Thanks to the Co-Chairs, Susan and Marci, and some donations, the hamfest was a better than expected success. We netted about the same as last year, so the treasury remains strong. Perhaps we could shorten the hours during future events. The first vendor left before noon, and just about all the others were packed before 2:00 PM. I think everyone who attended had a good time either shopping or visiting with friends. Thanks to all the volunteers and vendors for their efforts.

The annual banquet is scheduled for the second Wednesday, December 12th at 6:00 o'clock PM at Angels Buffett along Wheaton Way in East Bremerton--same location as last year. The cost for those who attend will be $5.00. The club will pick up the difference.

Bob, N7KTP, is arranging a special event on the 7th of December to denote the 60th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. If you haven't signed up to pull a watch, please contact Bob. We will have the club trailer outside the Naval Undersea Museum, Keyport, for night time operations and another station inside while the museum is open--10:00 AM until 4:00 PM.

Ed, N7NVP, pointed out at the October meeting that he had attended a class recently concerning the vulnerability of our communications system to terrorist attacks. We can use the special event to hone our skills should they be needed to supplement emergency communications systems.

73---Burt (W7IIT)

The NKARC Hamfest on October 23th was more successful than was anticipated. The vendor participation was lower as was the attendance. Some vendors decided to not participate because the club announced that sales transactions would not be allowed prior to the opening of the hamfest. The policy was put into effect to provide an "even playing field" to make items available to those attending the hamfest as well as the vendors. The lower attendance was expected based on the experiences of other hamfests in the Puget Sound area. In spite of these negative factors, the event was a success because:

1. Hamfest coordinators worked hard to minimize costs by reducing the amount of service to be provided by the fairgrounds.
2. Vendor and publisher contributions were used to increase the prize list.
3. Club members provided a significant amount of assistance to the vendors and manning required posts of ticket selling and security.
4. Materials and equipment were donated to the club table for the silent auction and sales.
5. Public announcements on the various nets and in local newspapers.

Club members were there to provide Saturday morning talk-in monitoring the WW7RA repeater and the simplex frequencies. They were the to help Friday night during set up either loading/unloading, organizing tables and security work. Saturday morning, they were selling tickets (a very important job to get things started). Others helped staff the NKARC club table that held your donations for sale as well as silent auction items. They were at the NKARC membership table helping with vendor, customer needs and questions, coordinate door prizes and provide general support.

The final financial report will be available at the Novemter business meeting. Thanks to all who participated. The club members at the October Business meeting were confident enough to second a motion to start the preliminary planning for the NKARC 2002 Hamfest.

December 7^th, 2001 is the 60th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. NKARC will conduct a special event station at the Naval Museum at Keyport, WA to commemorate this significant and historical date. The station will be on the air from 1600Z on December 7^th to 2400Z on December 8^th. The museum is open from 1000 to 1600 on that day and 2 stations will be set up in the museum for the event. We have been given permission to set up trailers with stations in the museum parking lot. Operations will be conducted in the trailers throughout the entire period including the time the museum is closed.

The special event can be considered to be a field day event in a location other than our own QTH. The event has been divided into various tasks to be performed from now until the end on December 8^th. The tasks have been placed into major categories to be assumed by designated team leaders. Some club members have been approached and have agreed to become team leaders in this project. Ed Bruette, N7NVP, is assistant project manager’ Malcolm Manon, NM7F, is site manager; and Tom Sanders, W6QJI, is handling antenna design and placement. Setup and antenna placement will be conducted on December 6^th. Members of the Peninsula Radio Club in Gig Harbor and the Mike an Key Club in Renton will participate. They are making equipment available to the operation. We hope to do the same for the Radio Club of Tacoma.

The museum director, Bill Galvani, has invited us to write and article describing amateur radio cooperation with the Historical Naval Ship Association Fleet. He would submit the article to be considered for publication in the association’s publication, The Anchor Watch An article is also being planned for QST magazine.

Bob, N7KTP

NKARC normally schedules only one meeting in the month of November because Thanksgiving would fall on the day after the fourth Wednesday of the month. This year, the fourth Wednesday comes after the Thanksgiving holiday and a business meeting is scheduled for that day. The main topic will be finalizaing the plans for the Dec. 7^th special event station.

The December meeting will be the dinner meeting held at Angel’s Homestyle Buffet at 4111 Wheaton Way in Bremerton. The meeting will start at 6:00 PM with dinner followed by an election of officers. The member will pay $5.00 towards the cost of the meal for member and guest and the club will pay all costs over the member’s costs.

Come and enjoy a delicious meal as we enjoy discussions and conversations on what happened during the Y2K year. Mark the date on your calendar and be sure to include your wife, girlfriend or significant other as applies

Want your newsletter as soon as it comes out of the word processor? Want to help the club keep the cost of the bulletin at as low as we can by minimizing the costs of printing and postage? Send your e-mail address to :

bobtomas@sprintmail.com, 

and it will be posted right after the proof reading. Be sure to tell if you are using an Internet browser or an e-mail only account in order to get the right format. Most e-mail only accounts only accept ASCII text format and we oblige with a text only format for them.

Don’t forget to dispose of those discharged household batteries in a way that helps our environment. This includes alkaline, ni-cad, and regular zinc carbide batteries. Bring them to the meeting., and they will be taken to the proper disposal site in Kitsap County.

Lead acid batteries are excluded from this collection. The disposal site on Hansville Road will accept lead acid batteries as part of the county-wide recycling project.

Last month, we proved that if you qualified for a tech-plus or higher amateur radio license, you have some experience with digital communications because of your CW experience.

Digital communications took on a more sophisticated look when amateur radio operators changed the way RTTY was operated and transmitted pictures and photos with SSTV using PCs in the shack. Packet Radio and its HF counterparts of AMTOR and PACTOR are the amateur radio alternatives to Internet e-mail. Early configurations required a terminal node controller (TNC) to be placed between the computer and the transceiver to convert the analog signals to a digital mode. Hams used the PC sound care eliminate the TNC.

At the October presentation meeting, Clint Hurd, KG7UR, discussed Sound Card Interface Design and the latest trends in digital communications He gave a short history on the development of digital communications and the attempts to improve them. His presentation described the techniques to connect the PC sound card to your transceiver and the software programs available to use the various modes available to amateur radio. An interesting part of the presentation was his on-line QSO with another station using the PSK31 mode and the most elemental of stations setups. He emphasized that you do not need the latest high-speed computer for these functions. It could all be done with a computer with a100 Mhz Pentium processor.

If there is a computer in the shack, you have an economical way to become involved in a most exciting and interesting facet of amateur radio – digital communications. CW, RTTY, Packet Radio, APRS, PACTOR, AMTOR, SSTV, PSK31 and MFSK are all there to be used. Maybe it’s time to give the ears and throat a rest and let the fingers do the talking!!!

Anyone out there with a spare 2M rig gathering dust? Dave KJ7lJ has been short of work owing to some health problems. He's looking for a 2M loaner rig. Dave helped out with the hamfest, so lets see what we can do for him. Any ideas, contact Ron Sefton - N7EM email or ph: 360-779-5418.

The US Navy uses deep submergence vessels (DSV) to conduct search, object recovery, geological survey, oceanographic research, and installation and maintenance of underwater equipment. We are familiar with the Navy’s first DSV Trieste II and its successor Deep Quest now on display at the Naval Undersea Museum in Keyport, WA. The newest DSV is a nuclear powered ocean engineering and research submarine designated NR-1. It was launched at Groton on Jan. 25, 1969, and successfully completed her initial sea trials August 19, 1969. It maneuvers by four ducted thrusters, two in the front and two in the rear. The vehicle also has planes mounted on the sail, and a conventional rudder.

NR 1 can travel submerged at approximately four knots for long periods, limited only by its supplies. It can study and map the ocean bottom, including temperature, currents, and other information for military, commercial and scientific uses. Its nuclear propulsion provides independence from surface support ships and essentially unlimited endurance. NR 1 is generally towed to and from remote mission locations by an accompanying surface tender, which is also capable of conducting research in conjunction with the submarine. NR 1 can remain submerged and on station even when heavy weather and rough seas hit the area and force all other surface ships into port.

NR 1 has sophisticated electronics and computers that aid in navigation, communications, and object location and identification. It can maneuver or hold a steady position on or close to the seabed or underwater ridges, detect and identify objects at a considerable distance, and lift objects off the ocean floor.

Now that we have your interest, you can learn more about NR-1 at the presentation meeting on November 14^th when club member Chas Richard will present a program describing the NR-1 in greater detail and relate some of his experiences while assigned to the vessel. The title of his presentation is "NR-1 and Amateur Radio". No further description is provided so it remains for us to be there and learn how this unique vessel is related to amateur radio. Little has been published about this deep-sea rover so this is a golden opportunity to learn about it first hand. I intend to go and find out if he has met Captain Nemo and his Nautilus while in the deep.

Nov. 14th – Presentation meeting at 7:30 PM - Viking Park Clubhouse – NR-1 and Amateur Radio – Chas Richard,

Nov. 17th -- VE testing Olympic College, Room T-111, Lincoln Avenue, Bremerton, WA at 9:00 AM. All exams, Technician through Extra, are given. Contact Sue, AB7MD, at 360-697-9379. Contact Sue,AB7MD, at 360-697-9379

Nov. 28th – Business meeting – 7:30 PM – Viking Park Clubhouse

Dec. 7th to 8th – Special Event Station KC7Z at Naval Undersea Museum, Keyport WA. Starts at 0800. See bulletin article for details.

Dec. 12th – Annual Christmas Dinner and election of officers – Angel’s Buffet – East Bremerton at 6:00 PM. See newsletter article for details.

No business meeting in December

No VE testing in December

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Visit the NKARC Web Page at the URL

http://community.silverlink.net/NKARC/

You can get the latest copy of the club newsletter -- "SOLID COPY. Click on the handi-talkie graphic and you’ll get a list of links to other web pages giving you an opportunity to connect to the ARRL, FCC, Packet Radio Home Page, AMSAT and many others. Need the QTH of the station you just had a contact with? The QRZ call sign look-up form is available..

The web page master has been changed from Malcolm, NF7M, to the newly appointed page master Jeff Hasz, KS7H. Submit your comments to Page master, Jeff at

ks7h@home.com

and let him know what you think. If you know of any interesting links, let him know and he will look into them.

Thanks, Malcolm, for a job well done during your tenure. You helped put the club into the latest techniques of instant communications.

It’s almost time for the changing of the guard. The nomination and election of club officers takes place at the December dinner meeting. We are going into the eleventh month of the year and there is just a short time to think about who will lead the club next year.

The club offices are listed on the newsletter mailpage. Look over the list and think about the office you would consider or else who would make a good candidate. Malcolm, NF7M, and Russ, KI7PG, are working as the nominating committee for the club. If they or somebody else approaches you and asks you to consider a position, listen and give some thought to it. After all, they have confidence that you have the qualifications for the office you are being asked to consider.

NKARC is an active club with many interesting programs and presentations. Club members represent many diverse aspects of amateur radio and they are willing to share their experiences and expertise. The club has had exceptional leadership but the leadership must change to avoid stagnation and to introduce new ideas. Take an office and help continue the action.

If you changed your address or call sign, please notify the club secretary to update the roster. This will insure that you will get the latest news via the club newsletter. Either notify Horace at the meeting or drop a card to NKARC at PO Box 2268, Silverdale, WA 98383-2268.

YOU’RE OVER THE HILL WHEN: